Hydrocarbon oils and method of making the same



Patented Apr. 2, 1935- UNITED STATES PATENT 1 OFFICE GTHE SAME uYDitooARBoN oILs AND- METHOD or Warren K. Lewis, Newton, Mass., and Brian Mead, .Baytown, Tex., assignors to Standard Oil Development Company, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application September 4, 1928,

Serial No. 303,966

18 Claims.

particularly such -naphthas as are produced by pyrolysis of heavier hydrocarbon oils, contain gum or gum-forming constituents which are-objectionable in many respects. Gum or gumnu'ng tendency of naphthas is determined by the method No. 530.1 in the United States Bureau of Mines Technical Paper 323 page 96, entitled I Specifications for petroleum products and methods of testing, revised October 21, 1927. In brief, this method consists in placing 100 c. c. of the naphtha to be tested in a spun copper dish about 3% inches in diameter on a steam bath and evaporating oi the volatile material. The result is expressed as milligrams of gum left in the dish per 100 c. c. of gasoline or naphtha.

We havediscoveredthatcertain aromatic materials if added to the naphtha prohibit the formation of gum or reduce the quantity as determined above.. We have also observed that the naphthas are much improved for many purposes in which gum is objectionable, such as the use for motor fuel. Gum formed by oxidation with air or by long standing, as in storage tanks, is

also greatly reduced by these agents. The substances which have this useful property appear to be of several classes of aromatic compounds, one of the most important being those compounds which contain a benzene ring. with one or more hydroxyl groups. Such substances as hydroquinone and pyrogallol. may be taken as examples.

Compounds which have two radicals on adjacent carbon atoms, at least one of which radical is an hydroxyl group, such as pyrogallol or thymol are preferable for our process. 7

The quantity of the material used may be very small, in all cases below 5 grams per gallon of naphtha and in general in the neighborhood of .1 to .5 gram. It has been found that there is an optimum quantity which will result in the least gum formation and it is a relatively simple matter to determine the optimum for each particular substance by test.

The substance used should be soluble in the cracked gasoline at least to the extent to which 'it is used and may be dissolved directly in-the gasoline or may be dissolved in a small quantity of oil or solvent, such as benzene absolute alcohol, or ether which is miscible with the gasoline.

It is common knowledge that hydrocarbon Gum tests are generally made by the copperdish test but sometimes by a similartest in which a porcelain dish is used. By either method our process reduces gum formation.

As an example of our process, a cracked naphtha having a gravity of 59 A. P. I. was found to give a copper-dish gum test of 280 mg. per 100 c. 0. without any addition agent. The table below shows the eiiect of the addition of approximately .10 gram of each of the named substances:

Gum formed Phloroglu cinol 230 mg. Resorcinol 230 4 mg. Hydroquinone 100 mg. Pyrogallol 7.4 mg.

Our invention is not to be limited by any thecry of the process nor by any example given merely by way of illustration but only by the following claims in which we wish to claim all noveltyinherent in the process.

We claim:

1. A motor fuel mixture comprising cracked gasoline of the type normally tending to develop gum-forming constituents, and a polyhydroxy benzene compound in quantity suflicient to substantially prevent development of such gumforming constituents.

2. A motor fuel comprising cracked gasoline normally tending to deteriorate and form gums on storage, having added thereto prior ,to storage a polyhydroxy benzene compound in amounts ranging from about 0.1 to 0.5 gram per gallon of motor fuel to retard development of such gumforming constituents.

3. A motor fuel comprising cracked gasoline of the type normally tending to deteriorate and develop gums on storage, and a polyhydroxy benzene in quantity suflicient to substantially 'pre vent the development of gums during storage.

4. The method of stabilizing the characteristics of a cracked, unsaturated hydrocarbon motor fuel distillate of the less-readily detonating type, normally tending to deteriorate and develop gumforming constituents on storage, which comprises adding thereto prior to such deterioration a small proportion of a polyhydroxy benzene sufficient to substantially inhibit gum formation in said distillate.

5. The'method of preserving cracked hydrocarbon motor fuel distillates which deteriorate and develop gums on storage, by incorporating therein a dihydroxy benzene in quantity suflicient to substantially inhibit such gum formation.

6. A cracked, unsaturated hydrocarbon motor fuel normally tending to develop-gums on storage, and containing a dihydroxy benzene compound dissolved therein in an amount ranging from about 0.1 to 0.5 gram per gallon of motor fuel.

7. A cracked, highly unsaturated hydrocarbon motor fuel of less-readily detonating type normally tending to develop gum-forming constituents on storage, containing a dihydroxy benzene in quantity suflicientto retard development of such gum-forming constituents.

8. A motor fuel comprising cracked gasoline normally tending to deteriorate and form gums on storage, and containing a trihydroxy benzene compound in quantity suflicient to substantially inhibit such gum formation.

9. A motor fuel comprising cracked hydrocarbon motor fuel distillates which deteriorate and develop gums on storage, and containing a trihydroxy benzene in amounts ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 gram per gallon of said cracked motor fuel distillate to substantially inhibit such gum formation.

10. The method of stabilizing the characteristics of a cracked unsaturated hydrocarbon motor fuel distillate of less-readily detonating type, normally tending to deteriorate and develop gumforming constituents on storage, which comprises adding thereto prior to such deterioration a small proportion of a trihydroxy benzene compound sufficient to retard gum formation in said distillate.

11. A motor fuel comprising cracked gasoline normally tending to deteriorate and form gums on storage, and containing hydroquinone in quantity sufficient to substantially inhibit such gum formation.

12. The method of preserving cracked hydrocarbon motor fuels which normally tend to deteriorate and develop gums on storage, by incorporating therein hydroquinone in quantity suflicient to substantially inhibit such gum formation.

13. A motor fuel comprising cracked hydrocarbon distillates of the character of gasoline which normally tend to deteriorate and develop gums on storage, and containing a hydroquinone.

compound in quantity suflicient to substantially inhibit such gum formation.

14. A motor fuel comprising cracked gasoline normally tending to deteriorate and form gums on storage, and containing resorcinol in quantity suflicient to retard such gum formation.

15. A motor fuel comprising cracked hydrocarbon distillates normally tending to deteriorate and develop gums on storage, and containing about 0.1 to 0.5 gram of pyrogallol to one gallon of the cracked hydrocarbon distillates to substantially inhibit such deterioration and gum formation.

16. A cracked highly unsaturated hydrocarbon motor fuel of less-readily detonating type normally tending to develop gum-forming constituents, containing pyrogallol in quantity sulficient to prevent development of such gum-forming constituents.

17. The method of stabilizing the characteristics of a cracked unsaturated hydrocarbon motor fuel distillate of less-readily detonating type, normally tending to deteriorate and develop gum-forming constituents, which,comprises adding thereto prior to such deterioration a small proportion of a pyrogallol compound sufficient to substantiallyinhibit gum formation in said distillate.

18. A composition according to claim 1, in 

